1960s
Defining People and Events
of 1960s
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The Great Debates
The New Frontier
Arms Race
Berlin Crisis 1961
Nuclear Test Ban
Peace Corp
The Great Society
* JFK inauguration
* Space Race
* Bay of Pigs
* Cuban Missile Crisis
* JFK assassination
* Lyndon Johnson
The Great Debates of 1960 Election
• In September of 1960, millions of Americans
turned on t.v. to watch two presidential
candidates in first televised debate in
American history
•John F. Kennedy (Democrat) vs
Richard Nixon (Republican)
• TV made Nixon appear tired and hot while
JFK looked relaxed, handsome, smooth
JFK’S ACHIEVEMENTS AS
PRESIDENT (1961- 1963)
• Kennedy was only 43, youngest man
elected to US Presidency
• JFK was also a Roman Catholic, first ever
elected to US Presidency
• JFK won electoral vote 313 to 219 but won
popular vote by only 120,000 (34 million
votes were cast in 1960 election)
JFK Inauguration Speech
• “Let the word go forth from this time and place,
to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans, born
in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a
hard and bitter peace….And so, my fellow
Americans, ask not what your country can do
for you; ask what you can do for your
country.”
JFK and “The New Frontier”
• Similar to the great Democrat FDR, JFK
offered up his New Frontier
• Eager to take action against poverty and
inequality – 20% of America was living below
the poverty line JFK believed direct aid from
the federal government to the poor was
necessary (LIBERAL DOMESTIC POLICY)
JFK and “The New Frontier”
• JFK succeeded little in pushing legislation
through Congress and failed with
ambitious plans for federal aid for
education and medical care for the elderly
(Congress Conservative) Similar to
Truman Post WWII as he tried to pass Fair
Deal and Congress focused on Cold War
and not domestic, “Democrat” issues
Camelot
• JFK administration/ time in White House
often referred to as CAMELOT
• Term first used by Jackie Kennedy in an
interview after JFK assassination – refers
to the era of King Arthur and his round
table PERIOD OF HAPPINESS AND
ENCHANTMENT AND US LEADERS
APPEARING AS ROYALTY TO THE
PUBLIC
The US Space Program 1960s
• JFK more successful in effort to revitalize US space
program than direct
aid to the poor
•Sputnik (1957) motivated
US government to attempt
to place a manned spacecraft
in orbit around Earth
• Task force appointed by JFK recommended
NASA concentrate on missions without
human crews
The US Space Program
• 1961 USSR announced Yuri Gagarin had
become first human to travel in space and
circled Earth on a Soviet spacecraft
• US feared being behind USSR again and JFK
announced the US should “commit itself to
achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon.”
• $40 billion promised to space research
The US Space Program
• Less than one year later in 1962,
John Glenn of US successfully completed
three orbits around Earth
* Most JFK domestic policies/ideas failed but
space program succeeded partly because it was
seen as competition against Communist USSR
The “Arms” Race in 1960s
• JFK believed US well behind USSR also in
nuclear missiles prior to his election
(actually US USSR equal prior to 1960)
JFK/ Congress decide to build more
missiles
• MAD Mutual Assured Destruction
became US foreign policy Designed to
deter USSR from attacking
US - ICBM – 800 Minuteman
250 SLBM
Bay of Pigs Invasion
• JFK’s first serious foreign crisis
involved Cuba and known as
Bay of Pigs invasion
• Fidel Castro had overthrown the
US backed dictator in 1959 because he
promised to improve lives of poor
• Castro took over private companies and
implemented communist government
Bay of Pigs Invasion
• President Eisenhower had approved plan in
1960 which involved CIA training Cuban
opponents of Castro and planned to invade
Cuba
• JFK and advisors expected Cuban people to
rise up and overthrow Castro
• Bay of Pigs invasion was total disaster
and US involvement in attempting to overthrow
legitimate government exposed to the world
1961 Crisis in Germany
• Upset by Bay of Pigs failure, JFK more
determined to respond firmly to communist
threats
• USSR made demand of peace treaty that
would make Berlin a united city under East
Germany
• JFK appeared on t.v. and told US public
the country would not be bullied
Berlin Wall
• USSR responded by building a wall in
August of 1961 to prevent East Germans
from leaving East Berlin
• Became major symbol of the Cold War
• JFK went to Berlin in 1963 to tell West
Germans US would defend and
announced “Ich bin ein Berliner” or “I am a
Berliner”
Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 1962 USSR placed
offensive nuclear weapons into Cuba
with 20 to 30 intermediate launchers
• US has no defense system against
ICBM
• WWIII a definite
possibility
Cuban Missile Crisis
• Called the 13 days of October or
Missiles of October
• Consensus among JFK advisors was
air strike against Cuba / USSR
• Alternative solution proposed was a naval
blockade labeled as a “quarantine” so not
to sound like term of war
Cuban Missile Crisis
• JFK comes on tv and delivers
most somber speech to
US public since FDR
and Pearl Harbor
• After a few days of negotiations,
agreement made that USSR will remove
missiles / missile launchers if US promises
not to attack Cuba
PEACE CORP
• JFK responded to critics who said all US
actions designed to stop communism by
developing new program PEACE CORP
• Provided teachers, nurses, doctors
and helped raise crops or
build roads, bridges
in poor areas
• Still program sponsored by US
government today
JFK Assassination
• November 22, 1963 Dallas, Texas
• Riding in open limousine as thousands
lined the streets to see JFK and Jackie
Kennedy
• Also riding in the limo were Texas
Governor John Connally and his wife
The Warren Commission
• Shortly after assassination a commission
headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren was
formed by US govt to investigate the crime
• Prime suspect was Lee Harvey Oswald, a
former marine and supporter of Cuba’s
leader Fidel Castro
• Two days after JFK assassination, Oswald
was being moved to different jail and was
assassinated
Lyndon Johnson (LBJ)
• Lyndon Johnson was in Dallas during
assassination and took oath of office
on Air Force 1 while taking JFK back to
Washington DC
• Wanted to enact a number of the bills that JFK
had proposed and failed with prior to his
assassination
LBJ and Great Society
• In 1964 election – LBJ ran against Barry Goldwater
(R) who was seen as a strong
Conservative (voted against Civil Rights Act,
welfare increases, social security, and believed
conflict with USSR inevitable)
• LBJ won and announced to country that we would
build a Great Society which would increase
government involvement in citizens lives more than
any President other than FDR
• (LIBERAL APPROACH TO DOMESTIC ISSUES)
LBJ and Great Society
• Great Society
-
Medicare 1965
Medicaid help poor with health care
$1.3 billion for aid to education
abolish Immigration / Quota Acts
Wilderness Act - set aside 9 million
acres of national forest
- Mass Transit Aid - $375 million to help
cities with development of mass transit
- $1.4 billion to state hospitals/med centers
- dramatic increase in food stamp program
LIBERAL APPROACH TO DOMESTIC ISSUES
LBJ and The Great Society
• Ultimate irony is that LBJ’s increased
involvement in Vietnam War forced
him to cut many ideas of The Great
Society
• **IRONIC BECAUSE THIS
WAS MORE
MORE CONSERVATIVE
TYPE THINKING